StandingWater Creations

I’ve decided I don’t like Christmas. Actually, pretty much anyone that knows me knows that. I’m a scrooge. Not really. People who really know me really know that I am probably the anti-scrooge; but for those who are passive followers/acquaintances, the outcome is that if you know me you know I don’t like Christmas and as a result I come across as a scrooge. So. Get over it.

However, there are a couple of things, with the holiday season, that I felt needed to, personally, be addressed. I have a couple of significant reasons for this. And yes, one of those is Erin. Yet, I just don’t like Christmas. Actually, the real feeling is I don’t like holiday’s in general; but that is a topic for another time (read here: NEVER) and as such will not be explored a great deal in this entry.

What I don’t like is the notion that holiday’s have become. Let’s take apart the word. Holiday literally means holy day. However, in the United States, today, and in the world, in general, the reference to holiday represents one of many things. It could be a civil or national day of remembrance. It could be a religious time of rememberance/celebration, it could simply mean a recognition of something important. Take Texas, as one example. A state holiday is Juneteenth, the day when the Emancipation Proclamation was read in the state of Texas. A quick Google search tells me two things, first, Juneteenth is June 19th (I was sitting here thinking 13th), and second, this is a nationally and internationally celebrated-slash-recognized holiday. Truth told, outside of Texas and those who have lived, been raised, born in, or are familiar with Texas, I have never heard of the holiday being recognized, let alone celebrated, anywhere else. You can learn more at this website if you are really curious. The holiday isn’t a holy day (though to some it may be). It is a day of remembrance, a day of celebration, but not a day of religious remembrance.

Thanksgiving is another example.

The Fourth of July.

New Years.

Halloween (though you don’t get time off for this one).

The list can go on, Martin Luther King day or Civil Rights day, President’s day and for some Election Tuesday are all days that hold some significance, whether we choose to recognize that significance or not; but they are not, traditionally, holidays.

If you are Jewish or, traditionally Catholic, there are as many holiday’s as there are days of the year. Every saint has a day. The Jewish people recognize a lot of things. And I guess, that is where we get back to Christmas. That’s a Catholic word. Christ and mas. The suffice –mas literally means a celebration of and then the word it postcedes. Meaning that Christmas is literally: A celebration of Christ. Yet, Christmas has become as ambiguous in celebration as almost any other holiday. It is no different, for me, than Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July or that one British holiday about Guy Fawkes – at least he is interesting in that he tried to blow up parliament and failed and is now canonized in the minds of the British people as a hero with admirable qualities. Someday, someone from England will have to explain that too me. Not today, tomorrow, this week, and if I am really blessed, not until after the end of 2006 and well into 2007.

You might begin to see my trepidation about holidays and their common celebration. Is Christmas about Christ? Or is Christmas a common celebration wherein people exchange gifts, buy trees (and kill them), and pretty much find an excuse not to work and put themselves far deeper in debt than they need to? Think further on this: X-mas, Happy Holidays, Yuletide (which seems to have a religious connection as well) and you might really begin to see that the secularization of the season isn’t about Christ, but about the relationship between retailer and consumer.

And yes, for those who are reading and wondering, “Is he trying to be antagonistic?” I am.

Hanukah, Kwanzaa, and other holidays literally exist, and are celebrated, during December not because they are significant or even important holiday’s, but rather as an answer (and in addition to) Christmas. Hanukah is a lesser Jewish holiday that would’ve disappeared from their social conscience had Christmas not existed. It is an excuse, adopted, to give presents and feel like the rest of the Christian world. This is not meant to incite and I am sure that there are people who celebrate Hanukah that truly felt he religious significance of the day, but the holiday and its celebration exists because of Christmas. I don’t have a problem with that, per say, I have a problem that we diminish the meaning of Christmas (celebration of Christ) by applying new (and different) meanings simply because tradition and social pressure dictate all of that to us.

Kwanzaa came into existence about 40 years ago and is the biggest joke on the planet. (As an aside, on that website, I discovered that Kwanzaa is exactly 40 years old. The number, I knew, was relatively correct, but had really been pulled out of my *bleep*. So, there ya go.) I can’t say anything positive about it even after reading about why it exists.

So, throw an Erin into my equation and then add a dash of something else (and, no, I don’t know what the something else is) and you get a much larger outcome. Specifically, I am now in the mode (at least this year) to want to appreciate this time of year, Christmas. I want to celebrate Christ; and yet, Christmas seems to pedantic to me that I am not sure I can cope with the traditions that are bespoken during the time of year. I’d be happy to forgo everything that is traditional and start over again; but that doesn’t work either. Get rid of the fat git in a red suit and exchange gifts for gifts sake and I am good. But, Santa Clause is so much a part of our culture that I don’t believe that is possible.

With all of that, my interest in the time of year has altered a bit. As a result of that I have decided that instead of Christmas I will be having a Celebration of Christ and, if you can get me to exchange greetings in the tone of the season, I will be wishing people, “Happy Celebration of Christ.” Yes, I am now running with the definition of Christmas. Yes, I believe this to be important. And yes, if you don’t want to be reminded about the reason for the season than I am probably not the person you want to have that discussion with.

Now, respect is something that has to come up, sooner or later. And with respect, I understand there are people who just traditionally celebrate without the need to delve into the reason. Great. Keep it that way. Just understand that in reverse I choose to focus on the reason and as such, Christmas (though a word in use) will no longer be my reason for the season.

Happy Celebration of Christ y’all.

p.s. It also allows me to not use the word “merry” during the season, as well; which is only a plus to me. In case people were wondering or had noticed that about me.